#ad GIVEAWAY and Review: Costas Candies

YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO ORDER FOR AN EASTER DELIVERY IF YOU ORDER BY THIS WEEKEND!!!!

I am excited to tell you all about the tour my son and I had to Costas Candies in Owatonna, Minnesota and about the wonderful candies we brought home to review and share with our family (Yup! Already all gone!) You can order yet through this weekend to have it delivered in time for Easter, but the giveaway won't be over until Easter. YES! You heard me right! I am having a giveaway of a 1 pound box of assorted Costas Candies.

I first want to tell you a little bit about Costas. Costas Candies and Restaurant is located in downtown Owatonna Minnesota and has been a family owned business since 1919. There is 2 parts to their business which includes a restaurant that is makes delicious food from scratch and the other part is their candy store and kitchen. When you walk in to Costas the first thing you see is the case full of candy. It's hard to miss all the brightly colored wrappers and the row of chocolate bunnies and ducks.

On our tour, my friend Julie, who owns Costas with her husband and his family, told us all about how each of the different varieties of candies are handmade at Costas. We were able to go back in the candy kitchen (which is separate from the restaurant kitchen) and see just where everything is made and watch some chocolate bunnies being made. The handmade candies they make include Truffles, English Toffee, Buttercremes, Pecan Turtles, Nut Clusters, Caramels and Peanut Butter Cups (a new offering).

Here are just a couple picture of my son looking at some of the candies in the display.  The bottom picture he is pretending to be a candy monster. The truffles and buttercremes were his favorites because he really likes chocolates.

The box of assorted candies was perfect for us because each person in our family likes some different than the other more. My favorites are the English Toffee and Caramels. My daughter is a bit of a sugar fiend and won't turn away any candy, but she gravitated towards the flavored buttercremes. My husband claimed nut clusters and peanut butter cups as his.

It was interesting to watch them making some chocolate (I think these are the ducks in this picture). Pictured on the side of the upside ducks is a machine that continually stirs the chocolate to keep it from hardening so that someone can make candy after candy. All of their chocolate candies are hand dipped and the chocolate bunnies and ducks are hand made by pouring in chocolate to each mold one at a time and tapping it to cover the entire mold and pouring in more when needed and tapping more. Each one of these delicious Easter creatures is made by hand by a person.

Here are some of the chocolate ducks that were just made and are cooling in their molds.

They even have a mold to make this giant chocolate bunny. Can you believe the size of this bunny? It is bigger than my son's head. He couldn't believe the size of this one. I think my kids' eyes would pop out of their heads if they saw this in their Easter Baskets.

These are the warmers for the milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Other than that warming and stirring the chocolate, everything done to make the candies they sell are all done by hand. There is no assembly lines or machines making candy, which makes for a very low environmental impact on the creation of their candies.

They are constantly making different batches of candy because they do no use an preservatives in their candies. Because they do no use any preservatives in their candies, they have a shelf life of of 2 months. But seriously, who is going to take that long to eat the candy. Our 1 pound box barely lasted a week. When you buy candy from Costas you are buying fresh hand made candy that is free of preservatives.

This is the stir stick that they use when making caramels and toffee. They weren't making caramels or toffee when we were there but we did see the huge kettle they make them in and the cement table that they are made and molded on.

My son picked out what he thought his favorite piece would be to sample before we left the store and he picked out a peppermint buttercreme.

Sure enough, he popped that whole thing in his mouth. I think I need to teach him a little bit about savoring and mindful eating.

Costas Candies also makes a basket out of chocolate. My son was in awe of that. He was just amazed that someone could get not only a chocolate bunny and beautifully wrapped (yes, those are all hand wrapped too) truffles and buttercremes, but also a basket completely made of chocolate that all of these delicacies are stuffed in to.

Right now they can ship to anywhere in the United States you want to have chocolate shipped too, but shipping will stop during the summer months when the chocolate will melt and resume again in the fall. Although, you can always walk in to the store and buy some chocolates or caramels or toffee at any time of the year you wan.

ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL RECEIVE A 

1 POUND BOX OF COSTAS CANDIES

(CONTENTS OF THE BOX WILL BE SIMILAR TO THE ABOVE BUT MAY HAVE VARIATIONS)

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I was given the above mentioned box of candy for the purpose of reviewing it on the blog. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are my own. No monetary compensation was received.